In trend terms, the number of commitments for owner occupied housing finance fell 0.2% in August 2014.

In trend terms, the number of commitments for the purchase of established dwellings fell 0.3% and the number of commitments for the construction of dwellings fell 0.2%, while the number of commitments for the purchase of new dwellings rose 1.7%.

In original terms, the number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner occupied housing finance commitments fell to 11.8% in August 2014 from 12.2% in July 2014.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE

Release Date

September 2014

10 November 2014

October 2014

10 December 2014

November 2014

12 January 2015

December 2014

11 February 2015

January 2015

11 March 2015

February 2015

10 April 2015

REVISIONS

In this issue revisions have been made to the original series as a result of improved reporting of survey and administrative data. These revisions have impacted on:

Investment housing for July 2014

Housing loan outstandings to households for July 2014

Seasonally adjusted and trend series have been revised as a result of the incorporation of estimates for the latest month and the revision of seasonal factors due to the concurrent seasonal adjustment methodology.

FIRST HOME BUYERS

A preliminary investigation has been conducted to evaluate the robustness of estimates of loans to first home buyers (Table 9). In collecting this information, lenders are asked to report all loans to first home buyers. Concerns have been raised that under-reporting could occur if some lenders were only able to accurately report on those buyers receiving a first home buyer grant.

Most data on first home buyers are collected by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001. The investigation indicates that some lenders experience difficulty reporting on loans where the buyer is not receiving a first home buyers grant. Estimates of loans to first home buyers (Table 9) are therefore under review and users are advised to exercise caution in referencing this data.

The ABS is working with APRA to explore options to make it easier for lenders to report correctly in future. In the meantime, the ABS is further investigating the potential for under reporting first home buyer data and the feasibility, if necessary, of estimating the extent of under reporting and adjusting the first home buyers estimates accordingly. The outcomes from the investigation will be published on the ABS website.

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INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.